Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Nonviolence and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Nonviolence and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Last updated on: March 27, 2024 at 1:55 am by Andrea L. Turpin

0 Comments

Nonviolence and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 2024-03-27T01:55:37-04:00 Andrea L. Turpin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A couple weeks ago I saw the classic 1962 Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance for the first time. It made me think of grad school. Before you get too concerned, specifically it made me think of a book I read in my twentieth-century history seminar: The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

First, some background, in case you too are behind on your consumption of Westerns. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—intentionally shot in black and white when color was available—is a meditation on the role of the Wild West in the American imagination and the genre of the Western specifically. It juxtaposes two ideals, civilization and frontier, through the two male leads, the powerhouse duo of Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne. Guess which is which.

Jimmy Stewart’s character Ransom Stoddard is a young law graduate headed out West to establish a practice. He literally wants to bring law and order to the Wild West. He encounters a road bump in the form of outlaw Liberty Valance who holds up his stagecoach, robs him of all his money, destroys his law books, and whips him, leaving him for dead. Stoddard is rescued and brought to the small settler town of Shinbone, where he is nursed back to help by an immigrant couple and their available daughter Hallie. Stoddard duly falls for her.

Upon learning that Stoddard is still alive, Liberty Valance wants to fight him, but Stoddard wants to use proper legal channels to bring him to justice. He teaches Hallie, and indeed a large portion of the town, to read. He spends a lot of the movie in an apron because he trades kitchen assistance for room and board until he can establish himself as a lawyer.

Tom Doniphon is the man who rescued Stoddard, and he has also fallen for Hallie. Doniphon is everything Stoddard is not. The town marshal is useless, so the only thing keeping Liberty Valance from completely overrunning the place is Doniphon, an experienced gunslinger and the one thing in town that intimidates Valance. Comparatively bad with words, he says “Pilgrim” a lot and can never quite manage to tell Hallie he loves her. He would not be caught dead in an apron.

For late adopters like me, I won’t spoil the resolution of the plot, but the movie intentionally raises questions around the use of violence. What do you do if you want to follow civilized legal procedures, but the law enforcement in town is incompetent or corrupt? What do you do if violence is used to abridge public discourse intended to change minds? (The Shinbone newspaper printed something unfavorable to Liberty Valance, so he smashed it to smithereens. The newspaper’s (drunk) owner responded, “Is Liberty taking liberties with the liberty of the press?”)

At the same time, it is uncontrolled violence that makes the West “wild” in the film. We learn that years later, when Shinbone developed into a fully civilized town, the incompetent man was no longer the marshal and Doniphon no longer carried a gun.

Fannie Lou Hamer. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Which brings us to The Deacons for Defense. If you’re like I was when I entered grad school, most of what you have heard about the Civil Rights Movement centers on nonviolent protest against racial segregation and Black voter suppression in the South. This was the philosophical and theological position of its most famous leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you’re a bit broader in your knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement, perhaps you also know Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer. These women too embraced nonviolent protest as leaders of SNCC—the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Nonviolence could be either philosophical or pragmatic. It could be embraced as an embodiment of Jesus’s command to love your enemies and turn the other cheek. King and Hamer, for instance, had well-articulated Christian philosophies undergirding their style of activism—Hamer’s despite her limited schooling. Or it could be embraced because it worked: it made your opponents look bad when they attacked you and you didn’t fight back. The nonviolent protest movement was a big tent consisting of both types of participants.

But some civil rights activists did not embrace the philosophy or the pragmatism of nonviolence. The most famous was Nation of Islam member Malcolm X, who remarked that he was “nonviolent with everybody who is nonviolent with us.” In other words, he embraced armed self-defense.

The Deacons for Defense tells the story of a Black group organized for self-defense not associated with the Nation of Islam: The Deacons for Defense and Justice. Organized in Jonesboro, Louisiana in 1964, it soon had chapters throughout the South. The Deacons made it their mission to offer armed protection to movement workers. The book traces how they built on an earlier tradition of protestors who did not always hold the nonviolent line and fought back when provoked. The book argues that it was the combination of nonviolence and violence that led to greater racial justice in the South: Nonviolence called attention to the problem in a way that drew public sympathy. But the threat of racial violence erupting also motivated reform—and protected nonviolent activists.

The South in the 1950s and 60s was much like Shinbone: in many towns law enforcement refused to act against violations of Black rights and violence against protestors. Famously, in Birmingham, Alabama, Liberty Valance was the marshal: Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor unleashed fire hoses and attack dogs on protestors for civil rights. Eventually activists induced a higher legal power—the federal government—to step in to enforce justice.

Should nonviolence be principled or tactical? Is armed self-defense always, sometimes, or never appropriate? In historical fact, different members of the Civil Rights Movement embraced all these stances. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance does not offer a neat resolution to the quandary of the connection between violence, justice, civilization, and the rule of law, and neither will I.

Politics and Religion

History and Religion

Andrea Turpin

Uncategorized

civil rights movement

Fannie Lou Hamer

Malcom X

martin luther king jr.

Self-Defense

Westerns

Previous Post

March 26, 2024

The Lost Social Justice Ethic of the Temperance Movement

Next Post

March 28, 2024 The Mocking of Carabas, and of Christ

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I love horror but would have to acclimate back to Lovecraft and especially Machen. Have ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"Very good point about MacDonald.I am certainly a Machen fan!"

philipjenkins

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"The Scottish author George MacDonald integrated fairy world into his fiction in a way that ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"I like the idea that we can have different streams. The coffee analogy is genius."

Lisa Clark Diller

How Do You Take Your Evangelicalism?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did the Israelites eat in the wilderness?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Corn Fish Bread Manna